Author’s Note: While I don’t usually bring work/industry type stuff to this space, after everything has been said and done, there are a few things that Brookstone did right and a few things that they could improve upon. I truly appreciate the personal response from Brookstone CEO Ron Boire and feel that they went out of their way to try to make it “right.” Please read my response to Brookstone for a mini communications case study to learn about their areas for improvement.

— Brookstone Customer Service: A Not-So-Very-Structured Customer Service Study —

A little while ago, I wrote about Brookstone and  brought my post to their attention via Twitter (see below). This gave me the opportunity to speak with their CEO Ron Boire and, for purposes of full disclosure, the company ended up sending me the amount that I mentioned in my previous blog post.

The company’s CEO reached out to me first and the story goes on from there. I understand their CEO is busy and I appreciate him taking the time to speak with me.

Overall, Brookstone did well. They did not ignore me. In fact, the CEO reached out to me to take the conversation offline. (Totally unexpected reply!) Brookstone promptly tried to resolve the issue by sending me a check. However, the organization definitely has room for improvement and some opportunities to do better in the future. I feel that their process has some weak points that could easily be improved. Let’s review these weaknesses and opportunities. Shall we?

1. Brookstone should not have put their CEO on Twitter (especially with a branded handle) without some serious social media guidance and crisis management counseling. Ron Boire was new to Twitter and I took advantage that he was easy to find in a search for Brookstone. If you are easy to find, please assume that you will be approached regarding your company/clients on Twitter. So companies of the world follow this advice: Don’t put your CEO on Twitter without crisis management training. Customers often use brands on Twitter to take out their aggravation. (See McDonalds). Any CEO or other professional that is on Twitter as a representative of the company (even if your Twitter name is not branded) should have some sort of social media and crisis management training for when things aren’t all about love and affection for your company, your brand or your product(s).

2. We all know that Twitter is pretty much an instantaneous universe. A tweet goes out into the network is viewed, used, read and within 5 minutes it’s usually gone. (Well, actually they are all archived by the Library of Congress, but that’s another post.) I admit, as a consumer, I understand waiting a few hours for a response from a brand or multi-national company. But let’s put this in perspective – by the time it took Brookstone to respond (1 day) or in another brand instance the Chicago Bears ProShop (several days), I’ve long left that tweet in my social media dust. Next time, I recommend that the brand Twitter account should respond before the CEO. Take social media ownership of your brand. Come on, why would I email you when I have the phone number of the CEO? Which brings me to point number 3…

3. Take another look at Boire’s Tweet. He put the phone number to his office out there. That’s right. Awesome job taking the conversation offline, but now your office line is officially out there for the world wide webs to see and to be archived in the Library of Congress. Anyone with a bit of tech savviness could potentially harass his admins. (Please note that I do not condone this behavior.) Although, I do appreciate the personal response and his obvious communication with the customer service team. Boire seems like a nice guy and a very in touch CEO.

4. Another opportunity for improvement would be for Brookstone to improve their customer service templates. This whole blog ordeal could have potentially been avoided had it been communicated where the $17 amount came from. Using a line or two of text on their generic customer service template response letter to explain that the gift card amount is equal to the last stock price of the item would have gone a long way in my book. (Truthfully, I don’t remember being asked for my receipt during my call to customer service by the way. But check the call recording to be sure.)

5. Finally, setting customer expectations is a big part of any customer service team. Where I work, our internal team does a great job of establishing the process of what will happen so customers are not left livid and fuming. When the rep entered my return into the system, why wasn’t she able to see that the item was no longer available? The customer service team could also implement an SOP (standard operating proceedure) that stresses the importance of a receipt, or otherwise make it clear that some people will not get a replacement (which is all I sought in the first place) in the event that their product is no longer carried (which is what happened).

Readers and Brookstone representatives, please don’t take this personally. Most companies, including Brookstone, have opportunities to grow and improve. I hope this follow-up post provided Brookstone’s customer service team with some valuable insight into the customer perspective. I felt that this quick dive into my customer experience could be beneficial for since I also wear product marketing/communications professional cap. Please feel free to share any customer support experiences in the comments.

Cheers,

g